Floating trolley for seaplanes



Aug. 11, 1925.

A. ROHRBACH FLOATING TROLLEY FOR SEAPLANE S 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 20, 1924 Aug. 11, 1925.

A. ROHRBACH FLOATING TROLLEY FOR SEAPLANES Filed March' 20. 1924 2 Sheets- Sheet 2 w 4 \M 2 v 6 P 2 Patented Aug. 11,1925.

UNITED sum mm Mme.

swarms TRQLLEY son smashes;

' Application filed March 20, 1924. Serial No; 700,621.

To all concern;-

g 1: Be it known 'thatl, ADoLr BonnBAoH, a

' citizen of: the German =Reich, residing at Charlottenburg, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Floating Trolleys .for 'Seaplanes, of whlch the following is a specification;

Up till new, the launching and bringing ashore ofseaplanes was usually eflected by means of inclined slipways, coupled with beach axles.- With this arrangement how- 'ever, the supporting contact surfaces being relatively small, the entire weight of the a machine has to be carried by the bottoms of floats 01' boats resting on the axles, or slipways respectively, so thatin spite of all protecting wadding the jerks and shocks of the transportation often cause leaks in the excessively stressed floats.- The floating all trolley trolleys, which are slipped over the floats and attached by means of fittings, also cause frequent leakiness, as a result of the shocks, transmitted by them to the floats.

This fundamental shortcoming of all types of beach axles and trolleys, known hitherto for the bringing-in of seapla'ne's is eliminated by the j invention, described herein, by which the floats are rotected from any stress produced by thew eels.

Several embodiments'of my invention are shown on the accompanying drawings, wherein:

-raiet'h Fig 1 IS a front elevatlonc e g with the seap trolley. I 0

Fig. 2 shows a constructional detail. Fig. 3 shows in front elevation a modifled form of construction of'thetrolley.

"Fig. 4 is a side elevation of F1g. 3. 7

Fig. 5 shows'another modified designin side elevation.

Fig, 6 is a plan view of F1g. 5.

Fig. 7 shows a constructional detail.

The floats carrying the float ng trolley, are so arranged, that they maintain said in an absolutely vertical posltlon. As Fig. 1 shows, the axle 1 of the wheel 2 is connected with stays 3 and 4:, which are seaplane.

all

provided with telescopic extensions 5 and 6 and supported by lateral floats 7 and 8.

The'se telescopic extensions are bolted by locln'ng devices. The entire device is fitted tocorresponding'plates or fittlngs of the The whole locking dev ce and 10 may be substituted, as shown in Fig. 2, by anautomatic locking device. As shown in Fig. 2, the extensible stay 5 has an inner the movable parts of the *tubular socket 13 in which an eccentric grip,

spread out scissorlike,

is arranged. One 'arm of this grip is being operated by a pulling over apertures. 17 in the stay 3, they interlock with them and thereby produce the automatic locking.

Instead of two floats, only one float and a watertight, pneumatic disc wheel 2 may be used, as illustrated in Figs. 3-and 4.

The device works as follows: 2

At a suitable place of the floating trolley, a rope is attached which is cast to the occupants of the seaplane. By means of this rope the trolley is hauled upto the machine, and after having been brought into the right direction and place, is coupled by one of the passengers, by means of the light extensible parts of the stays 5 and 6, to the fittings 11 and 12 of the seaplane. This couplmg can safely be carried out even at a rough sea, because as long as the floating trolley 1s being hauled up to the seaplane, the extensions'of the stays remain tightly telescoped, so that even when violently in mot1on, they cannot strike the wings from below. With an automatic locking device, stays telesco. e into the stationary parts, after the whee 2 has touchedthe landing stage, until said lockmg device, rigidly couples the wheel axle ane.

. A modified design is shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Both floats are combined to one single float, entu'ely encompassing the wheel. The wheel 2 may be elastically mounted on the float 19'by means of rubber ties 18, or the like The stays 20 and 21 and the lateral stay 22 terminating in a ball-shaped head and turnably mounted on the fitting 23 of the floats, are attached to the seaplane. i In order to facilitate the detaching of the stays 20 and 21, they may each be provided with a pivoted head bolt 26, having in its upper part 27 a right-angled, oblong bolt, which after interlocking with corresponding apertures securely couples the stay b an inclination of 90. The inclination 0' 90 can be given thisbolt by a segment-shaped lever 27 to which pull ropes 28 or 29 are attached.

I claim: a

1. A floatin trolley for launching and bringingweap anes ashore comprising upllll extensible supports to the plane, and devices for locking the distensible supports in the distended operable position.-

2. A floating trolley for launching and bringing seaplanes ashore comprlsing upright telescopically arranged supports. a

apted to be distended into attachable relation with the plane and connections for readily attaching the upper support with the plane and-locking the telescopically arranged supports in the. distended position.

3. A floating trolley for seaplanes carrying thereon a support which is collapsible and distensible for hauling underneath the plane and ready attachment thereto during rough seas, together with connections for readily fastening the distended support to the plane and means for locking the support in the distended operative position.

4. The combination of a seaplane having floatable supporting means, thereunder,- with a fioatable trolley having a support which is collapsible for hauling underneath the plane and which is readily distensible into attachable relation with the plane together with connections for readily fastening the distended supportto the plane and means for locking the support in the distended position.

5. The combination of a seaplane having floatable supporting means thereunder with a fioatable trolley carried underneath the craft to one side'of the floating means and having readily distensible supporting connections directly to the underside of the craft. v

6. A floating trolley for launching and bringing seaplanes .ashore, having supports for readyattachment to the plane, a float and a trolley wheel elastically mounted thereon.

7. A floating trolley of the character set forth in claim 3 having a rigid trolley float and a trolley wheel elastically mounted thereon.

In testimony whereof I afix my signature.

DR. AnoLr ROHRBAGH. 

